


Ghost

by ViolentRouge (Cetus_Above)



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-16 06:00:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19312078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cetus_Above/pseuds/ViolentRouge
Summary: Link's free to do whatever he wants now. While re-exploring Hyrule, something happens that leaves him looking for a soul and a soulmate. No one seems right though, and he almost gives up before someone reminds him just who he is.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! It's been a bit since I've written fic and I'm still figuring out where I want this to go. Please excuse the rough description, I'll update it when I have more material than one chapter!

No matter what he did, he couldn’t die. Sure, he had felt the pain of death numerous times, but it never lasted long. Some kind of reinvigoration would run through his veins and leave him as vigorous as ever. This strength had even led to him being able to defeat the greatest threat to Hyrule of all- Calamity Ganon (although he had had Zelda’s help). The amount of times he had felt the power of undeath run through him had faded over the last three years. He and Zelda had completed a tour of Hyrule and began bringing some of the scattered Hylians back toward Castle Town. Men had even begun repairing Hyrule Castle, with Zelda ascending to the throne. Link, being her champion, had been prepared to stay by her side and watch the kingdom thrive from the castle. However, Zelda had given him something far greater than he could have expected: freedom. Her words still would occasionally resonate in his head.

“Link,” the princess began, “as my champion, you have restored peace to our torn kingdom. I, nay, all of Hyrule had been on the brink of collapse at the hands of Ganon. Now that stability is also returning to the land, you are free to do whatever you please. The world is yours to explore, and if you choose to leave, you should know that you are always free to return to the castle. There will always be space in my court for you.”

Link stuck around the castle for about a month after she had told him that. While he appreciated the life of luxury he could now partake in, something wild still stirred within him. With only slight notice to the now queen of Hyrule, Link packed a few of his precious belongings and decided to traverse Hyrule once more. This time would be different than his first two times. After Calamity Ganon had been defeated, the amount of monsters had dwindled low enough to make traveling almost completely safe to everyone. The second trip had been largely political and left him bored. Neither trip had included time to stop and check the landmarks that made Hyrule so special. Now that he was _free_ , Link had spent the last six months stopping to see everything that the land had to offer. He even snuck into Gerudo Town again and spent a week pretending to be a vai so he could meet locals. The last week though had been spent in the Lanayru region, mainly within Zora’s Domain. Link had made many a friend amongst the zora and was elated at the chance to visit with them. The royal family, upon learning that the Hylian champion was within their domain, had even thrown a feast in his honor. It was an embarrassing display for Link, but he had been gracious enough to accept.

While visiting Zora’s Domain was a necessity for his visit to Lanayru, it wasn’t the only reason Link had returned to the region. One morning after several days in the domain, he decided it was time to make his pilgrimage. After enjoying breakfast with Kodah and Kayden at the inn, he dressed himself in armor and strapped the master sword to his back. While the monsters had largely dissipated, there was still the threat of them off of beaten paths. The sun, while hardly in the sky, already promised to bring warmth to the day; however, it would be cold where Link was traveling. Before he knew it, Link was already in the Naydra snowfield. The snow kicked up around him while a cold breeze blew down from Mount Lanayru. Link had come to see both the great spirit Naydra and visit the shrine to Hylia within the Spring of Wisdom. He felt that it was necessity on his trip through Hyrule to visit the home of all of the dragons as well as the three springs. A sudden shift in the wind’s direction caused him to turn his head. As he did, a small gasp escaped his mouth. Naydra, the great spirit of wisdom, had appeared from the direction of Lanayru Promenade. Ice dripped elegantly from her. Link knew better than to ignore the ice; anything touched by it would become instantly frozen. As she grew closer, the temperature dropped more. Luckily, Link had worn his snowquill armor that he had obtained from the Rito.

Link stood in awe as the dragon grew closer to him. She was silent, her undulations creating no noise as she flew through the air. She was the physical embodiment of ice, being silently beautiful with an edge of danger. All of the dragons, Link realized, were silent, but in different ways. While Naydra’s silent was cool, it wasn’t necessarily cold. After he had removed the malice from her a few years prior, the champion could have sworn that he heard a resounding thanks from the dragon. He understood the dragons’ desire to remain silent. During his journey to rescue the princess, Link had grown a little bit harder in his attitude. As the memories crept back to him, Link remembered being more receptive of strangers and more willing to converse. His foray through Hyrule had left him largely silent, although he still spoke to his friends. As a matter of fact, Link had spoken more in the last week than he had in months. The only person he felt comfortable speaking to in Castle Town had been Zelda, but the zoras just managed to work the words out of him. He had even managed to form the basis of a friendship with the zora prince, Sidon. The tall zora had seemed overbearing at first, but after bonding over the memory of Mipha, the two had become somewhat friendly.

While he was musing, Naydra had grown closer. Her shadow had begun to cast itself over Link. _I wish I had brought my bow,_ he thought to himself. The dragon would have dropped valuable scales if he had shot at her. It didn’t hurt her, he assumed anyways. Suddenly, a tree limb snapped somewhere to his side. Link turned toward the sound while drawing the master sword. It was probably just a squirrel or something, but Link never could be sure; however, he turned and saw an unpleasant sight. Several icy lizalfos had congregated behind him, and one had a bow with an arrow nocked. Link had also luckily brought his shield with him and went to raise it but was too slow. The arrow left the bow, and before he could even react, lodged itself in his neck. It had hit something, something important, and Link could feel the life bleeding from his neck. It hurt. He hadn’t experienced a death quite so painful, even when he had been left broken by a lynel. Ice was spreading itself down his throat and he was choking on his own blood. Exhaustion crept over him and he collapsed. He wasn’t quite gone though, and he could hear as the lizalfos scurried around him. One reached for the master sword, but a bright light burst from the sword and left the creature a pile of ash. One of the others emitted a panicked sound and initiated the monsters’ retreats. Link waited in frozen agony, immense pain radiating from the site where the arrow had buried itself. He wondered why he hadn’t begun feeling the rejuvenation rush through him. _Maybe this is it. Maybe the Goddesses could only save me for so long._

After what felt like an eternity of laying on his side, Link slowly but surely felt the warmth returning to him, starting at his toes. Waves of relief began to wash through his troubled mind as he struggled to stand. He felt different though, as if he were hollow. A longing began to build itself in his heart, but he knew not for what.  
Pressure began to build in his neck around the arrow. He felt the arrow work its way out of his neck, yet it never hit the ground. Instead the arrow began to vibrate before disappearing. _Strange_ , he thought to himself. Then again, he had never been “killed” with something left embedded in him. He scratched at his neck and dusted the snow off of himself before restarting his trek to the Spring of Wisdom. Death wasn’t exciting to him anymore, nor was it a cause to stop. Even the weird feelings could probably be chocked up to the way the arrow had embedded itself. Link did, however, remain on guard the rest of the short trip to the spring, just in case a monster decided to ambush him again.

Naydra had chosen to rest at the top of the mountain, overlooking the spring. Link felt her protective eye on him as he reached the spring.  
In front of him stood a large statue of Hylia. Particles of light seemed to radiate from it, and Link felt something larger than himself in Her presence. He bowed his head and went to recite a prayer.

“H-“ The sound fell dead at Link’s lips.

His throat felt tight. He went to try again, but couldn’t get any sound to form at all. Something was wrong. His lips started to tremble as thoughts ran through his mind. He had spoken before he left Zora’s Domain. It had been light conversation, but words were spoken nonetheless. He suddenly became aware of just how quiet everything was around him and realized that he’d been clenching his eyes shut as if he were still in prayer. He let the tension in them go and slowly opened them, only to stumble backwards. A giant eye, the size of his body, was directly in front of him. A thin membrane blinked across it. Naydra, Link realized. She must’ve flown down from the mountain while he had his eyes closed. She rotated her head until her nostrils were directly in front of him. Link went to take another step backwards, but found himself transfixed. The Hylian began to inwardly panic. Naydra, however, lay motionless, the only sign of life being her breath. Suddenly Link became aware of something changing within him again. It felt like his old reinvigoration, just icier. His hollow body felt like a piece had been returned to it.

_Child_ , a voice resonated in his head. _You were lost on your way back to your body this time. Your soul went to the only other home that it could know: that of your soulmate. Find them, find yourself. And know this- any further deaths will leave your mortal body further weakened._

Link felt himself able to move again. Panic had begun to wash over him. This couldn’t be right. He had come to accept that he would either eventually reach an end where he would no longer resurrect or that he would go on forever. Now he was stuck in a halfway state with an impossible stipulation to leave it. There were so many people in Hyrule, how would he even find a soulmate? He ran down the mountain, the snow not crunching under his feet.


	2. Chapter 2

Link ran all the way back to Zora’s Domain. He didn’t nowhere else to go. Before he entered the citadel, he decided to sit behind some bushes and collect his thoughts, as it would do him no good to run into someone with no explanation for why he could no longer speak. He also needed to process what had even happened. Sure, he had fought _the_ corrupter of Hyrule and came out relatively unscathed, but something about Naydra speaking to him had deeply unsettled him. It was a different type of ancient force than he was used to; she was almost nurturing in the way that she spoke to him, but what did she mean by a soulmate? Was there really someone out there who had come into possession of his soul? Were they aware of it? Naydra’s warm breath had made him painfully aware of the hollow in his chest. Link crumpled up as much of his snowquill armor in his hand as he could. The armor didn’t have much give to it, but the action gave him some kind of relief.

Link shifted around in the bush and realized something was off. He moved around again. Nothing. Not a single sound. He stuck his hand into the leaves and shook them, but the bush made no noise. Mildly alarmed, Link ran his hand through his hair. That made no noise either. The bush had moved when he touched it, as had his hair, but neither made a sound. Curious, he grabbed a nearby stick and brushed at the bush. The leaves rustled as soon as the stick came in contact with it. Link was stunned. He moved around like a ghost now; he couldn’t speak, nor could he make noise. Two thoughts came to his mind: one, that this ability could be very useful for fighting monsters, and two, this was going to make interacting with other people even harder. Link had not earned a reputation of being the friendliest. Instead, most considered him to be short-winded and blunt. Now that no one would be able to here him, they would be even more wary of him. He let out a sigh. Well, he tried to anyways. Instead he just went through the motions. He had to get up and go to the domain. His things were still there. Kodah and Kayden would probably also be getting worried. He had told them he would be back by nightfall, and the sun had finished most of its journey through the sky. Besides, the bush was starting to make him itchy.

He got up and brushed the leaf litter off of his armor. It was a little bit too warm for the snowquill armor, but he would have frozen to death in the highlands without it. He walked across the bridge. One of the guards, Torfeau, stood at the end closest to the Domain. Link gave her a friendly wave as he walked by. She gave a nod in response. His heart skipped a beat when he saw more and more zoras. One of them was going to stop and talk to him, he just knew it. He hadn’t made any plans for what to do if someone _did_ decide that they just needed to talk to him. In an effort to discourage anyone from getting close, he ducked his head down and speed walked to the inn where he was staying. Luckily, he avoided everyone. If he could just make it to his room, he could get some paper and find some explanation to give to his friends. Kayden called out to him when he entered the inn. Link waved and stuck up his index finger, trying to tell the innkeeper that he would be right back. He darted back to his room and grabbed some paper and something to write with. He sat and thought for a minute. How could he explain his predicament without sounding like a lunatic? Link pondered the situation for a moment before an idea hit him.

_I have decided to take a year long vow of silence. Hylia came to me while I was at the spring._

Yea, that would do it. He took the paper with him and left the room. By the time he got back to the lobby Kodah had joined her husband. The situation would work out perfectly for him.

“Hey Link! How was your little pilgrimage?” Kodah asked him.

Link gave a wave and handed over the sheet of paper. Kodah and Kayden both wrinkled their brows at the gesture. After taking a second to read it, Kodah asked him another question.

“That’s a little weird Linny. You sure you heard her right?”

Link shrugged his shoulders. He knew that he had no real explanation, and his planning for this one had only gone so far. The zora woman shook her head ever so slightly and moved away from the counter.

“I guess it’s your decision. How much longer do you plan on staying in the Domain then?”

The Hylian hadn’t thought of that. It _would_ be easier if he left as soon as possible. He would also be able to work on finding his soulmate a little bit easier if he left as well. He reached for his piece of paper and began writing.

_I think I’m only going to spend a few more days here. There’s still so much more of Hyrule that I want to see._ He pushed aside the sheet of paper so that the two zoras could read it.

“You’re welcome to stay here as long as you would like,” Kayden said, his first reply of the conversation. “You’ve done too much for our people and moreover you’ve become our friend here.”

While Link would have normally remained stoic and just given thanks in return, he instead felt his face turning red. He nodded and hoped it communicated his feelings. He turned around and went back to his room. The champion had suddenly grown overwhelmingly warm and he realized he was still wearing his armor. He took the opportunity to strip and change into a more weather appropriate set of clothing, the armor Zelda had dubbed the champion’s tunic. The tunic shared the design with a piece of armor gifted to all of the former champions. It was also the strongest thing he owned, and what he defaulted to if the weather were favorable. When he finished, he decided to leave the inn for a few hours. Maybe he would find something to eat while out. But first he decided to make a different version of his first note. This one would be bigger while only saying the bit about him taking a vow of silence. Most of the zoras only knew him superficially, so hopefully the note would serve to defer any potential conversation.

Link made his way to a place where he knew he could find something to eat. His stomach had started growling towards the end of his conversation with the innkeeper and his wife. Many zora were out and doing their shopping. The sun sat low on the horizon and most of the heat from the day had dissipated. No one seemed interested in stopping to speak with him; they must’ve all had more important things to do. Of the major holdouts for the various races of Hyrule, Zora’s Domain was the second smallest, only bigger than Rito Village. Still, there were many more people than one would expect. There were also people of the other races who had made their homes in the domain. He saw many a Hylian on his way to the small shop where he knew the owner. The shop wasn’t actually too small, but it was cozy. The Coral Reef had earned a rather positive reputation over the last 100 years, and Link had become friends with Cleff, the shop’s owner. Link also knew the zora wouldn’t ask too many questions about his silence after he showed the note. Link entered the shop and was greeted by the blue zora’s friendly smile.

“Hi Link! Back for more supplies for your trip?” Link shook his head and pulled out the note that he had shoved into his trousers. He handed it to Cleff who took a minute to look it over.

“A vow of silence, huh? Well I guess your free to make your own decisions. What can I help you with today then?”

Link pointed to a few recently cooked fish that had been skewered. The zora shop owner nodded his head and asked how many the Hylian wanted. He held up two fingers and waited for the other to ask for payment.

“These are on me today if you’ll answer a question of mine. Does your vow of silence include all kinds of communication? If not, us zora have a signed language that we use to communicate with each other underwater. I would definitely recommend picking up some of it.”

Link nodded his head and took the fish. He reached into his trousers again for another sheet of paper and took a moment to write.

_I am free to communicate in any other way I please._

“Maybe Kodah would be able to teach you some of it, then,” Cleff said. Link waved and left the shop. He mulled over asking one of his oldest zora friends to teach him while walking aimlessly around the citadel and eating his fish. He heard a collective sigh and realized he hadn’t been paying attention. He’d wandered into a crowd of zora women and it dawned upon him that it must’ve been the Prince Sidon fan club. He looked around and saw the tall red zora was standing in front of the fountain in front of the palace. The prince was staring at the statue of his departed sister, Mipha. It seemed to be something the giant zora did frequently. Link knew how the prince felt. Almost everyone he’d ever cared for was dead, either from the wrath of Calamity Ganon or from the simple passage of time. Hylians didn’t live as long as the zora did. While the Hylian had chosen to leave his family young to join Zelda’s royal guard and eventually become her champion, he still occasionally saw them before the calamity struck. He assumed his mother and father were lost around the same time that Mipha was, as they had moved to Castle Town to be closer to their only child.

It was evident after a few minutes that the fan club would not be receiving the prince’s attention, so the women dispersed. Link however stayed rooted in his spot, reveling in the past. It always hit him as a massive wave that took a few minutes to recover from. He’d lost a hundred years. It hurt to think of sometimes.

“-you alright?” The sound of someone talking to him broke him from his rumination. Prince Sidon was standing in front of him and from his worried posture had been attempting to get the Hylian’s attention for a few minutes. He went to issue an apology, but as he opened his mouth, he remembered the sound wouldn’t leave his lips. He dug into his trousers for the note that he had written and handed it to the taller zora.

“You’ve taken a vow of silence? That seems like a noble undertaking, my friend. However, don’t you think it will be hard to achieve things along your journey without being able to talk to the people you meet?” Sidon asked with what sounded like genuine concern.

Link shrugged before sighing and nodding his head. He knew that his whole life would probably be spent in silence now, with no way of communicating his needs to anyone. He’d wind up becoming a drifter living on the outskirts of society at this rate. Either that or he’d be a miserable addition to Zelda’s court. Sidon must have noticed Link’s inner turmoil, as he decided to speak again.

“We zora do happen to use a kind of signed language for whenever we are under the water. If you feel that you must be silent, I could teach you a bit of it to at least be able to communicate with some of the zora!”

Link felt his face grow red, He was always terrible at being offered things, and he knew the prince was busy with his royal duties. The prince must’ve had some special abilities like his sister, however, as he picked up on Link’s thought process once again.

“It won’t be a bother to me at all. If anything, I would consider it a favor to one of my dear friends. How about we meet here at the fountain at noon tomorrow? I could give you a basic lesson, and you could keep me company. It does grow awfully lonely when all I do are my princely duties, after all.”

Link considered it for a minute before nodding his head in acceptance. It couldn’t hurt anything to try to learn this language, and he’d potentially make better friends with the prince. In his newfound freedom, Link was finding an appreciation for making friends. He’d spent too much of his life as a loner, and the company of others could be at least somewhat pleasant.

“It is set then,” the prince said, a smile gracing his face. “I shall see you when the sun is high in the sky, my friend! Until then.”

The Hylian watched as the prince turned and made his way towards the castle. It had grown kind of late, and Link decided it was time to return to his room at the inn.


	3. Chapter 3

Link stood nervously by the fountain. It was close to noon, if the sun beating down on him was any indication. The last two times he had been in Zora’s Domain had involved a lot of rain, but it had been warm and sunny almost the entire time that he had been here. The statue of Mipha gazed out across the citadel. Link knew it was meant to honor the fallen zora princess and champion, but to him it felt kind of creepy. He knew her in life as more than just the zora princess. They had been friends, and he believed she had been the only one of the champions to truly understand him. It had hurt him to regain his memories of the time that the two of them had spent together. Her spirit, like the rest of the champions, still occasionally visited him; he knew that she had brought him back from some of his less severe deaths. He’d told no one about any of the former champions being bound to their divine beasts, but he had a feeling that Zelda knew. She had a way of knowing things well before anyone even thought to tell her. Link figured that’s why she had given him permission to wander, as the boredom that had begin to grow in Link’s mind had started making itself more obvious. Neither of them had really changed much during the hundred years. It was nice having someone else that could relate to his feeling of missing so much of their lives. Link had left her behind, however, and he definitely wouldn’t face her without being able to speak to her.

_I guess I really will have to put effort into this whole soulmate thing,_ Link thought to himself. The Hylian sat down, pulled his knees up to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them. The lack of sound still bugged him. He had an extra problem on top of even finding a soulmate though, as not too many guys in Hyrule seemed to be looking for another man to romance. He assumed his soulmate would be someone he would be attracted to anyways, any other way seemed like cruel irony to the Hylian. Sure, he’d met men in relationships and had spent a few scattered nights with others throughout the years but finding someone to fall in love with was another topic completely. He also felt that if his potential lover ever found out why Link had specifically sought him out, he would feel used. He could just picture the conversation: _“I know I popped into your life and we’re supposed to be soulmates, but I really only found you because I wanted my voice back.”_

A shadow blotted out the sun that had been beating on Link’s head. He looked up in curiosity, as there hadn’t been any clouds in the sky mere minutes before. Instead of clouds, he saw the looming head of the massive zora prince. Sidon flashed a toothy grin. Link rubbed the back of his head and smiled back, slightly embarrassed. There was no telling how long the red zora had been standing nearby before approaching him.

“Hello Link! How are you on this fine day?”

Sidon offered a hand to the Hylian. Link accepted it and used it to pull himself up. He silently wiped any dust off of his trousers. It of course made no sound. Sidon made a slight face at Link, but he didn’t linger on the subject. Instead he clapped his hands together.

“Are you ready to begin our lesson, then?”

Link nodded in return.

“Excellent! We shall practice in the palace to minimize curious gazes,” the prince stated with no strong inflection, but his words suggested a twinge of annoyance.

Link looked around and realized that the prince’s fan club had already started to gather itself. The two made the short way to the palace stairs. Link heard the shuffle of several pairs of feet behind the two. These girls were merciless in their pursuit of the prince. He could see their logic if he looked at it the right way. The prince would eventually be required to take a suitor to produce an heir for the domain. The domain itself was the only holdout for zoras, meaning that these girls actually stood a chance at marrying the prince. At least the Hylian assumed as much. Maybe zora royalty mirrored that of the Hylians and there were other regal like families that held power over smaller parts of the domain. The pair made their way into the open-air main section of the palace. Guards that stood by the main entrance kept the fan club from following the two.

The sort of looks that Link received now compared to the first time that he had entered after Mipha’s death were significantly more positive and a lot more trustworthy. He no longer had to worry as much about rejection from the likes of Muzu, as the elderly zora had apologized about his behavior sometime before. Link and Sidon made their way through the main room of the palace that also doubled as King Dorephan’s throne room. The prince gave the most casual hello that he possibly could give to his father as the pair continued on into a different part of the castle that Link hadn’t seen before. The rest of the palace maintained the same theme throughout it seemed. Luminous stones lit the wall as they made their way down a short hallway and into a sitting room. A guard that Link had never met before was stationed at the archway into the room.

_Sidon must never truly get to experience aloneness,_ Link thought to himself as he sat himself on a couch across from where the prince was seated. Even when he roamed the streets of the domain, a guard was always close at hand. Link’s couch was built with the royal family in mind, as the Hylian found himself having to pull almost the entire length of his legs onto the couch just to rest his back on the back of it. He heard a soft chuckle come from the prince. Link frowned slightly, but the prince paid him no mind.

“For todays lesson, I believe we could start with some of the most basic signs. We don’t exactly sign the way we speak; the language developed to fit a different niche than our spoken word,” Prince Sidon began explaining to Link. “If you try to sign like you would speak, people might generally get what you mean, but they would also give you some strange looks. Here, let me show you how to sign your name.”

Sidon began moving his hands, albeit much more slowly than Link expected. He had seen zoras sign underwater and in rare occasions on land, but they had always moved their hands much faster. Prince Sidon also spoke while he signed.

“My name is Link. My. Name. Is. Link,” the prince said while deliberately punctuating each movement to match his hands. “Now you try!”

Link tried to repeat the prince’s motions. It seemed simple enough. The only weird part was the part that he assumed was his name. It almost felt like he had to spell it out. When he finished, he looked over to Prince Sidon. The red zora smiled at him.

“Excellent, my friend! How about you try it again and then we will work on a few more basic phrases.”

Link signed the simple sentence again and was greeted by more approval from the prince.

***

Link’s head had begun to hurt after a few hours of practice. He believed he could at least do some basic greetings after all of the practice though. Sidon seemed like he was also worn down, but he kept the same cheerful expression on his face.

“I believe that is enough practice for today,” the prince remarked. “Why don’t we do this again tomorrow? We can meet at the same time and work a little bit more. I do enjoy the opportunity to help someone learn.”

Link nodded his head.

_OK, yes,_ he signed to the prince. It wasn’t a great answer, but it was better than the head nodding that he had been limited to just a few hours prior.

“I must leave you to find your way back home,” Prince Sidon began, “I have business that I must attend to here in the palace.”

_Goodbye, Sidon_ , Link signed. The prince had shown him the system that they used to spell out names, and Link utilized it to show the prince he had been paying attention. It was more time consuming than other signs, but Link figured it was respectful. The prince smiled in return, his sharp teeth reflecting the sunlight from a skylight in the room.

“Goodbye to you as well, Link.”

Link left the room and followed the hallway back the way that he had come. He silently slipped out of the palace and back into the main parts of Zora’s Domain. It was about 3 o’clock, judging by the sun. The Hylian figured he would make his way back to the inn where he was staying, as there wasn’t much else to do. He also wanted to show off some of his new signs to Kodah and Kayden. Instead of encountering either of them when he entered the inn, Link ran into Finley. She had finally hit her growth spurt while Link was off saving and helping to rebuild Hyrule. She had married Sasan and the two had settled into their own home away from the inn, although the now rather tall zora woman would occasionally come to visit her parents.

“Hi Link! How are you?” Finley asked, but then something seemed to dawn on her. “Oh yea, mom said you were taking some kind of year of silence. That doesn’t sound like much fun to me, but if that’s what works for you. I came here to tell mom and dad that Sasan and I still planned on coming to dinner tomorrow, but they must be out right now. Can you give them that message for me?”

The Hylian nodded while giving the sign for yes.

“Thanks Link! Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow,” Finley exclaimed as she turned and left the inn.

Link decided to retire to his room for the evening. His head still hurt from the lesson and he didn’t feel like hanging around the entrance to the inn until Kodah and Kayden came back. Tomorrow was going to be another long day if the prince was planning on keeping up the pace. Link would continue at it at least. He’d tackled one of the worst forms of Ganon just a few years prior, learning how to speak again wouldn’t stop him from finding his soulmate and putting his life back on track. The hero flung himself onto his comfortable water bed and closed his eyes, letting sleep pull him under.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all are still enjoying!


End file.
